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“Never have I ever had sex with a guy!” said Jasper gleefully, holding his drink high with sparkling eyes probably largely due to the significant amount of alcohol he already consumed beforehand.
“You never had sex with anyone,” muttered Monty under his breath sulkily, while he watched Miller downing his own drink beside him. He realized a second too late what, or more precisely who his words could remind Jasper of, but thankfully he didn’t seem to have caught his interjection.
“Never have I ever had sex with a girl!” Miller retorted instantly after finishing his shot, which caused an exasperated groan from the other side of the campfire. Meanwhile Monroe and Harper just smirked at each other over their own cups.
“Honestly, is this a drinking game, or ‘Let’s get Clarke wasted!’ night?” Clarke was already filling her next cup, preparing for the dizziness to set in. Damn, Monty’s stash was a killer, not even the Grounder drinks had this much potency to them.
They were all sitting around the fire, lit in a secluded area of the Arkadia camp, all the remaining delinquents joined by some of the other younger Ark survivors. It has been months since the Skai Kru, as they are called by the Grounders, joined the coalition, months of war and politics and a never-ending game of push and pull with Lexa, complete with a whole array of confusing emotions. Frankly, Clarke needed a break from Polis. And given how things seemed to have been stabilizing lately, she was considering making that break permanent.
“Well, it’s not really our fault that you have a tendency to get laid, Princess.” The old nickname rolled off of Bellamy’s tongue with a familiar ease, until he saw Clarke stiffen for a moment at the sound of it, reminding him why he stopped using the name altogether. She probably still prefers it to Commander of Death though. Nevertheless, Bellamy quickly added, trying to distract Clarke from thoughts of blood-soaked hands and lifeless brown eyes:
“Which reminds me… Never have I ever had sex with a Grounder!” The rouse seemed to have worked, as Clarke rolled her eyes with a sigh, and Bellamy watched with barely contained glee as she finished her third shot in a row.
“Wait, is there a story there that I don’t know?” asked Raven to their right. Her shiny, brand new brace was lying beside her as she was performing her daily physical training routines. The latest surgery helped eradicating the pain she felt since Mount Weather, but it also meant that she was not allowed to put any pressure on her half-paralyzed leg for weeks. In fact she was strongly advised to bed rest altogether, and was constantly pestered by the once again full-time medical chief Doctor Griffin to keep it that way. Hence why her other leg needed physical therapy and strengthening now as well.
“Remember when we went after Clarke following Indra’s warning?” Raven nodded so Bellamy continued, his eyes twinkling with some long forgotten mischief. “Turns out that our beloved and fearless leader here has a fondness for cute trader girls.”
“Wait, did Niylah actually tell you that we had sex?” Clarke raised her head from between her hands where it fell as Bellamy decided to get into the details of her sex life.
“I believe that the words she used were ‘She was there when I fell asleep and gone when I woke up’,” Clarke once again buried her face in her hands with a groan, and by now Bellamy was fully grinning as he slung his arm around her shoulders. “This one is quite the Don Juan here.”
“Your literature references suck, Bell.” Clarke’s muffled voice was barely audible, as she was still unwilling to move from her previous position. Deep down however he was grateful for Bellamy’s light teasing, that even made her forget the circumstances and the state she was in when she ended up in Niylah’s bed. “Grounders have absolutely no sense of subtlety.”
“Damn right they don’t!” shouted Octavia from the opposite side of the fire. Bellamy had full view of her and Lincoln clinking their cups together when he made his ‘Never have I ever’ claim, but he was pleasantly surprised by the lack of aggressive big brother instinct that came over him at the renewed confirmation that yes, in fact, his sister had sex. That however could’ve also been the consequence of that being one of his lesser problems in the first place…
“How about boundaries, are you familiar with those?” Bellamy shouted back at them, and Lincoln at least had the prudence to look guilty, even with a smile on his face, but Octavia wasn’t having any of that as per usual.
“It was one time!”
“It was one time too many!” Bellamy replied without a pause. “Could you at least close the door the next time you decide to use my room? I’m too young to have a heart condition.”
“I’m sorry if we disturbed your delicate sensibilities, big brother. I forgot that you’re just an old man, wanting to be left alone with your books, reminiscing of your young life of adventure with a cup of tea.”
Clarke snorted and Bellamy looked mock-disapprovingly at the blonde still tucked under his arm, but she wasn’t the only one having a laugh at his expense. He tried to look stern, which no doubt strengthened his ‘old man’ status even more, but he had a hard time keeping up that façade, so he just ended up grinning himself.
The truth was that he missed this. More importantly, he missed his sister and he missed Clarke. Lincoln’s kill order was lifted the moment they became part of the coalition, and not long after that he and Octavia decided to go back to the Tri Kru, to start over there, while Clarke stayed behind in Polis. He lost both of them almost at the same time, same as…
“Never have I ever had to sneak out of someone else’s bed after curfew on the Ark!” said Monty quickly as he noticed Bellamy’s face darken. Monty almost let out a relieved sigh when he saw Bellamy’s expression change to one of amusement, as he lifted his arm to let Clarke take her next shot, grumbling something about the rest of them conspiring against her.
“Shut up, Bellamy,” mumbled Clarke as she leaned against Raven’s shoulder, clearly being affected by the sudden alcohol intake.
“I didn’t say a word.” Bellamy was grinning again, and this time Monty couldn’t mask his relief. He felt another hand on his own, slowly intertwining their fingers, and looked up into Miller’s knowing gaze.
They all had their losses. Just when Jasper started to come to terms with Maya’s death, they found out that Miller’s boyfriend was one of the kids who were killed right after landing, and the 36 deaths in the Mountain, including Gina, still loomed over them, like a barely healed wound waiting to be torn open at any moment. He knew that it was especially hard on Bellamy, who also had to deal with his sister’s departure and Clarke’s continued absence as his support. They all tried to help each other out, be there for their own, but some nights all they could do was to stare into the abyss together with a drink in each of their hands.
But tonight was different. They were healing. He hasn’t seen Bellamy smile this much for months, which was probably thanks to the news that Octavia and Lincoln decided to come back to them after all. ‘I still don’t know where I belong, Bell, but I want to have that place with you.’ Monty was there for their reunion, just as he was there when Clarke arrived at the gate with uncertain steps and a hesitant expression on her face, but that soon disappeared as she was enveloped in a giant bear hug by all the delinquents present in a 200 foot radius. She was rather vague in her answers to inquires about how long she would be staying, but she did mention wanting to have a drink, and that’s how they ended out here.
“I believe it’s my turn now.” Clarke’s words were already starting to slur as she let Raven fill her cup again. “Never have I ever got high!”
“Clarke,” Raven chuckled, “you do realize that almost all of you got high on those nuts back in our first weeks on the ground?”
“Shit.” Clarke was staring into her cup with slightly unfocused eyes now, but then she just shrugged and downed her drink in a single gulp.
A few hours later, as Monty curled up against Miller’s chest, burying himself in the warmth of his shirt and looked around, he decided that yes, they were definitely healing. Bellamy’s face looked more alive than it had been for a long time, as it was lit by the flickering campfire while he was teaching Lincoln some old song. Even from his position at the opposite side of them he could hear Octavia’s groan as they started singing. Harper and Monroe were already sneaking away giggling to themselves, and Clarke was laying passed out by him, with her head resting in Raven’s lap, who was absentmindedly stroking her hair while arguing with an already sobered up Jasper about power source efficiency.
Monty knew that they could never be whole again, not entirely, but that moment right then felt like the closest thing they could get. He let out a contented sigh as Miller kissed the top of his head. They didn’t get together until recently in light of everything, and they were still taking things slowly, but slow was just how Monty liked it.